The present invention relates to optical reading of multiple data tracks simultaneously. This is of particular interest in optical data storage and in optical inspection systems. Previous multi-track systems required breaking up the laser beam into multiple read beams and mechanically tracking the recorded data. A typical example for such a system is U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,777. Other systems used broad illumination of the read area and electronic tracking to read a single track such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,534. Using broad illumination increases cross-talk between tracks and give poor results when used with laser light due to laser speckle.